Russian TV reporter found dead

A journalist with state-run television was found dead yesterday in his Moscow apartment with a belt around his neck and numerous stab wounds - a grisly murder that reinforces Russia's image as one of the most dangerous countries for reporters.

The victim, Ilyas Shurpayev, who worked for Channel One, came from the southern province of Dagestan, which is plagued by clan struggle and criminal violence. While there was no immediate evidence that the killing was connected to his work, Shurpayev wrote in his blog hours before his death that the owners of a newspaper in Dagestan had banned a column he wrote from appearing in the paper. "Now I am a dissident!" was the blog's headline. "The funny thing is that this paper has not published anything but my travel reports," he said. "I have not participated in political life" in Dagestan.

Russia has increasingly been seen as unsafe for journalists. In 2006 Anna Politkovskaya, who wrote about Russian atrocities in Chechnya, was shot dead in a killing that has never been solved. More than a dozen journalists have been murdered in contract-style killings since 2000. Many appear to have been targeted because of their attempts to dig into allegations of corruption.